This invention relates to a method for producing a data medium permitting the restoration of the original base data content. The invention further relates to a novel data medium. The data media or storage media which are the object of this invention do not require linear data recording.
Storage or data media which do not require linear recording of the data have been on the market. They include diskettes, hard disks, DVD media and the like. This invention is not dependent on any particular operating or file system employed by the computer hardware with which the data media are used.
It is an accepted fact that modem operating systems and the basic installation of common applications software take up considerable storage space, typically several hundred megabytes. As a result, a significant amount of time must be spent until all components are properly installed and harmonized. Given the ever growing market and ever more voluminous and diverse computer applications, the system setup involves highly time-consuming steps before the data medium is formatted with the desired basic content.
However, the popular operating systems and application software programs are relatively vulnerable in terms of mutual compatibility. The mounting number of software products and possible mistakes made by users in their installation often lead to an incompatible state of programs and data.
Typically, the applications do not provide the possibility of undoing an installation 100%, apart from the fact that not all errors are immediately detected, ultimately making a complete reinstallation necessary. It is a known fact that the majority of all computer problems arise from the incompatibility of applications software, data etc., and that the attendant expenses for the user and for the industry are substantial.
Given the described state of the art, it is the objective of this invention to provide a method for producing data media, and a data medium itself, designed to minimize both the need for reinstallation and the time required to restore the original state and content that existed before any incompatibility was encountered.
As the procedural aspect of a technical solution, a method is proposed for producing a data medium with a restorable original base data content, whereby, in a field designated as the active-data zone, an original base-data content is created, a separate field of the data medium is assigned as the backup or recovery zone and a retrievable copy of the data in the active-data zone is saved in the recovery zone.
The hardware or firmware aspect of this invention is based on a data medium which is provided with at least one active-data zone and at least one recovery zone, allowing a copy of the contents of the active-data zone to be retrievably saved in the recovery zone.
The data media employed are preferably commercially available data media which by means of the method according to this invention are formatted into specific states. This invention thus makes it possible for an original base-data content selected as the desired installation state to be stored in a completely separate backup section of the data medium. In the event of changes to the contents of the active-data zone for instance by the installation of new applications or the like, whereby the content of the active-data zone is no longer sufficiently useful, meaning that the computer employing the data medium concerned no longer functions properly, it is a simple matter to restore to the active-data zone the data set saved in the recovery zone, reestablishing in the active-data zone its original base-data content. Appropriate functions can be integrated into the operating system or into the so-called BIOS of a computer. Suitable data compression allows for extremely rapid creation of the backup copy and for equally rapid retrieval. As part of that process, the so-called data link protocol is preferably saved in the recovery zone as well. Also included may be the corresponding compression and decompression software.
A particularly desirable conceptual aspect of this invention provides for the assignment of another zone storing the actual core information that organizes the data medium topology, meaning the so-called partitioning data which determine how many zones there are, in what basic format and for what purpose.
The method according to this invention thus allows for the production of data media which are prepartitioned and which in an appropriately designated recovery zone store a backup copy of the original base data content which, when the data medium is installed and used, is written into the active data zone for initialization. In other words, the data medium can be supplied completely formatted in a base installation mode that turns a computer into a device with a basic software content.
According to another aspect of this invention, error detection data are generated and stored, making it possible to determine whether the generation of a backup copy and/or the retrieval process was successful. To that end, check numbers are generated by means of which rewrite errors or damaged areas in the recovery zone can be detected. It is equally possible to use the error values for correcting incipient retrieval errors or dropouts in the recovery zone.
It is especially in the realm of mass distribution of computers that this invention offers advantages and new opportunities. Even uninitiated buyers are now in a position to restore their computer to the original delivery state where in the past it would have been impossible for them to rectify driver or other software problems. This minimizes customer complaints, it encourages users to perform the installation themselves and enables them to do so more reliably. By way of example, up to 50% of the data medium may be reserved as the recovery zone, but a smaller area can be used equally well, storing compressed data. Preferably, a blank area is left at the end of a data medium. The last data block may contain the so-called signature which in addition to its identifier may include for instance partitioning, file validity and similar data. In this case, the backup copy serves to write the individual data blocks, from last to first, in compressed fashion. The recovery zone is preferably identified as a partition which is not available for access by the operating systems, thus avoiding undesirable or accidental overwriting of this zone. As the backup is generated, a data checksum is calculated and is on its part entered in the last data block.
For retrieval, the signature is read first, following which the individual data blocks, decompressed where applicable, are written from first to last into the active data zone of the data medium. This rewrite process is controlled with the aid of the established checksum.
The method may be further refined by testing the data for defragmentation and by defragmenting the data in adaptation to the operating or file system used.